Reviews for Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe

The average rating for Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-02-06 00:00:00 Travis Scott The book argues that the First Crusade gave birth to the dominant form of Mediterranean Latin siege warfare in the twelfth century. The techniques involve the use of siege towers and assaults, and in many cases involve naval support when not inland. Italy is central to the story: ship-building provided technical skills similar to what is needed for poliorcetics, and Rogers suggests that the Sicilian Normans predate the Capetians or Plantagenets in developing something akin to a professional corps of siege engineers. Artillery does not feature much in this book, although Rogers devotes an appendix to the debate on torsion, tension, and lever artillery. The book does not talk about Byzantium although given Birkenmeier's conclusions for siege warfare there at the same time (that the army effectively existed as a guard for the siege train) it is likely that society would fit into Rogers's scheme for the Latins quite well. Likewise, northern Europe is absent. This book is very much Latin Mediterranean in scope, and it should be noted that Rogers actually devotes significant attention to Spain. The biggest problem that I have with this book is with fortification. This is the period of incastellamento, and although the entire book is about taking fortifications, we do not get much of a sense of what those fortifications are or how developments in fortification and poliorcetics relate to each other. Those not interested in military history might find Rogers's comments on the rise of the siege engineer, which is said to have taken some of the monopoly on military skill away from the knight and received an elevated social status as a result.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-07-07 00:00:00 Zachary Larson For an Oxford title on Medieval Europe, this was actually enjoyable. The author has a very nice writing style that made it one of the easiest hard-core history books I have read. While covering topics in Latin warfare, the author includes a historical narrative of Frankish Greece, one of the very few English-speaking historians to do so.